Adventures in Writing

( Click here to continue reading. )

( Click here to read more. )

Challenge #14

Try something new.

( I may be late to the party, but podcasts are my newest thing. )

Challenge #11

In your own space, create a fanwork.

It's Wednesday, and I'm bored at work. Never a good thing. Idle hands and all that. So, instead of doing the work that I should be doing, I decided to unearth this story, finish and polish it up, and post it for your enjoyment.

( Click here for the link and some background. )

Challenge #9

Rec Us Your Newest Thing.

( Here, have a couple of movie recs. )

Challenge #6

In your own space, share a favourite piece of original canon (a show, a specific TV episode, a storyline, a book or series, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much.

( Come into my parlor and let me tell you about Sports Night )

Challenge #2

In your own space, set yourself some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private.

( I sort of have a love/hate relationship with goals, but here they are nonetheless )

My year kicked off with me feeling like I’d been drug through a knothole. I was tired all the time, sweating like I’d just run a marathon, and my resting heart rate was somewhere around 99 bpm on a regular basis. Needless to say, I was a mess. Turns out I had developed an autoimmune disorder called Graves Disease, which is a form of hyperthyroidism. Basically, my body was making too much thyroid hormone, and it was wrecking my metabolism.

And I still signed up for Rough Trade in April, knowing I was sick and unable to concentrate on even the most mundane tasks. [insert facepalm here] I managed to get through both stories I’d signed up for, but it was tough, let me tell you. I felt like my brain was wrapped in cotton and that I was swimming in a vat of syrup all the damned time.

I’m seeing a specialist and taking medication, so I’m doing much better now. Needless to say, the beginning of my year started out pretty lousy. Thankfully, work wasn’t a burden, so I didn’t feel like I was going to die trying to keep up. Both my folks are in their 80s now, so taking care of them and myself was tough enough.

I was feeling so much better by July that I signed up for another two projects on Rough Trade. [insert another facepalm here] I barely got through my first story. I’ve dealt with labyrinthitis for decades but haven’t had an episode in years until July. It’s kinda hard to type or be creative at all when the whole world is spinning around you.

Somehow, I made it through, though. The dizziness has mostly subsided at this point, so I was able to get through my November RT project with little issue. I only signed up for one project, just in case, and while I struggled to finish it by the end of the month (I posted the last chapter on Dec 5, so technically, I didn’t, but I’m taking it for a win since I hit 25k by the end of November, which is the minimum goal), I did finish it.

Oddly, health issues weren’t the problem this time. It was November getting in the way. Whoever thought November was a good month for NaNo was an idiot. I had a two-day face-to-face meeting with my team at work that I had to travel for, plus Thanksgiving, which always takes up at least two days because nothing gets done on the day or the day after while you recover from all that food and football.

So, it’s been an up-and-down year for me. I survived, so I count that as a win. If there’s one thing I’ve learned this year, it’s to be proactive about your health. If something doesn’t feel right, don’t wait to see if it’ll go away. Make an appointment and see your doctor right away. If I’d done that instead of waiting until I was at a crisis point, I wouldn’t have spent half the year trying to get healthy.

On the upside, I’ve lost 20 pounds and am on track to lose another 15, which will get me to a healthier weight after being overweight for 20+ years. I just wish it hadn’t taken getting sick to get me there.

On the writing front, I’ve logged ~136k words, which is astounding, considering how lousy I’ve felt for most of the year. I still haven’t posted my last RT project on AO3, so that’s a goal for January. I wish I’d been able to write more, but that just wasn’t in the cards for me this year. I did pick up yet another fandom (I can’t help myself at this point); My NaNo project was a Harry Potter/Mary Poppins crossover. I’ve written in the HP fandom before, but never for MP. It was a fun story to write, and I’m looking forward to the editing process so I can revisit the story.

As for next year, I’m hoping to ramp up my writing again. I’ve already got ideas for the first RT challenge, and I’m exploring the other prompts for the year to see if there’s anything else that piques my interest. I’m going to try to get back to writing shorter stories, one every month, if I can. Having a regular schedule appeals to me, and I think it would help keep me writing more regularly than I do now. I’m not setting a word goal because that’s just absurd, and I don’t need that kind of pressure in my life.

I’m also going to be a mod on the Fandom Snowflake this year. I’ve participated for the last several years, so I felt like I wanted to give back a little by helping to run it this year. I hope to see you there!

( Click here to read the highlights )

Banner by DizzyDrea

This is my project for November's Rough Trade challenge. It actually hits both prompts, Magic and Second Chances, though that was purely accidental. It's an idea I've been noodling on for a few years, built around a Sirius Black/Mary Poppins pairing. I'm a little nervous about writing in the HP fandom, as I know the fans can be... a bit much. But I'm determined to ignore the haters and write the story I want to write.

Due to ongoing health issues, I've decided to write just one story this fall. Considering that both of the other challenges this year have been impacted by my health issues, I didn't like my chances of finishing two stories, so I decided to go with just one and see how it goes. I'm feeling good now, but if you'd asked me on March 30 and June 30 how I was feeling, I'd have told you I was fine, so what do I know?

I Dream of You on Rough Trade